1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to cotton cleaning equipment, and, more specifically, to a resilient lay-down bar for a cotton cleaner.
2) Related Art
Some cotton harvesters, such as the type shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,606,177, include a cotton cleaner for separating seed cotton from trash. The cleaner includes primary and reclaimer saw drums, each having numerous saw tooth discs incrementally spaced along a transverse driven shaft. Seed cotton and trash enter the cleaner, and a driven beater propels the material through a narrow longitudinal opening defined by the outer diameter of the drum, two end walls of the cleaner housing and a rigid U-shaped channel or lay-down bar. The lay-down bar presses the cotton upon the rotating saw teeth of the primary drum. As the primary drum rotates at high speed, the saw teeth snag the uncleaned cotton and force it through the narrow opening. The snagged cotton is impelled against several radially spaced bars to further enhance the separation of the trash from the seed cotton. The reclaimer drum, located below and similar in construction to the primary drum, provides further processing for any uncleaned cotton.
During harvesting, it is not uncommon for foreign objects such as rocks and broken parts from farm implements to enter the cleaner. If the foreign objects are too large to pass between the lay-down bar and the rotating saw-tooth drum, severe damage to the saw-teeth occurs. Without sharp saw-teeth, cleaning efficiency and machine productivity are substantially reduced. The foreign objects can also subject the cleaner to damaging shock loads as they wedge between the lay-down bar and the drum.
Previous lay-down bar structures have provided only limited adjustability of the opening, and the aggressiveness of the cleaner cannot be easily changed. Often, green bolls feed past the drums and through the cleaner. The fixed lay-down bar also establishes a prime area for plugging problems.